All you Chipotle fanatics in Dallas rejoice! Join us at Chipotle at Preston & Warren in Frisco on Thursday, Oct. 9th from 3:00 - 4:30PM as two of our Homegrown stars, Victor Ulloa & Moises Hernandez, will be signing autographs, taking pictures and even rolling a burrito or two.

Toyota is giving you the chance to meet FC Dallas Homegrown players Moises Hernandez and Victor Ulloa at the State Fair of Texas on Saturday, September 27. The players will be signing autographs and taking photos from 3-4pm at the Toyota outdoor display (above) on Saturday afternoon.

Fans can also get photos with FCD mascot Tex Hooper, or arrive early at 2pm to get photos with the FC Dallas Girls.

Here are the photos from Team BR19 at our annual Dallas Heart Walk. Team BR19 had over 130 people participate and raised more than $11,000 donated to the American Heart Association! A special thanks goes out to our partner Elephant Insurance for their support of Team BR19.

The event was a resounding success, and one part of what made it all possible was the volunteerism of a handful of FC Dallas Youth players. With 10 players on the roster, the Special Olympics team needed a few volunteers in order to accomodate an 11v11 full-field game.

"It was an incredible atmosphere," said Higgins, a recent University of Texas graduate who has played for FCD's U-23 team for the past three summers. "I know the [Special Olympics players] were super excited to get out there and play."

Higgins' younger brother is a Special Olympics athlete and her father is president of the Flower Mound Special Olympics. She said as soon as the opportunity came up she knew she wanted to help any way she could.

"I definitely try to give back to Special Olympics," she said. "Whenever I can I try to go out and help coach my brother’s Special Olympics team or just volunteer, whether it’s hanging out with the kids or coming to cheer them on."

That kind of volunteerism is something encouraged through the PRACTICE program, which is a character-building initiative FC Dallas Youth uses to reinforce traits such as Compassion, Respect and Integrity in players both on and off the pitch.

"It was a really fulfilling experience for me," said High School senior Ashley Bishop, a midfielder for the U-18 ECNL team. "[The Special Olympics players] were so pumped to play in the stadium. They were super excited and I think they all had a lot of fun. It was a really good experience for everyone."

With the support from FC Dallas Youth, the front office and the thousands of fans who cheered the team on throughout the match, the Special Olympics athletes got the memorable night they deserved.

"To have the opportunity to play on a professional field in front of professional athletes; I think they felt like superstars that night. For all of us that volunteered, that’s what we wanted; we wanted them to feel like superstars."

Several members of the FC Dallas family are traveling to Brazil this summer to take in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and have agreed to share their experiences with FCDallas.com to give our readers a first-person perspective of the festivities. Erika Cook and Melissa Janetta work in Business Development and Partnership Marketing for FC Dallas. They've traveled to Curitiba along with FC Dallas Foundation Director Melissa Reddick to do volunteer work with Lionsraw (and watch a little soccer). Give them a follow @2SoleSisters on Twitter and Instagram and keep up with them on Tumblr.

It didn’t take long for me at all to fall in love with this project and the people of Parolin. I felt immediately connected to the kids through our mutual love for soccer and their endless enthusiasm to learn. While all the other projects are outside the city of Curitiba, Parolin is in the inner city. The favela community (our version of inner city projects) is a harsh upbringing for the kids as the drug ridden streets and crime rule the community. We’ve spent time coaching and mentoring the kids of this favela as a reward for those that are attending school and church on a regular basis. This formula has been put into place in this community as a way to instill discipline and structure.

Our project is based in a 3G covered field house where just a few streets away from the pitch lies the worst favela that Lionsraw has seen as a team. Our kids are ages six to about sixteen and about 98% are boys. We have morning sessions with the little ones and then more technical afternoon sessions with the older kids. These kids are amazing soccer players! They are mini versions of Neymar dancing their way around each other like you wouldn’t believe. And tough…some of them play barefoot or in socks. If they get knocked down they don’t whine or complain and quickly get back up and get involved. They are so eager to learn whether it’s a new foot skill or to simply count to ten in English. The children have great respect for all of the coaches and volunteers on the project. Each morning they’ve greeted us with smiles, handshakes, and fist bumps and thank us before they leave in the afternoon.

Aside from soccer, we were lucky enough to spend last Sunday attending church with the kids and their community. It was a great experience to see them outside of the pitch engaging with each other on a different level. Most of them attended without their parents knowing their incentive was that they got to finish the day on the pitch. Their church provides a great support system for the kids so I hope they continue to participate and attend.

The short time that I’ve spent here I can say have been some of the happiest moments of my life. My team of fellow coaches, the kids and the community have warmed my heart forever. My hope for these kids is that they can find enough inspiration to continue on their paths of education and pave their way towards a brighter future despite the struggles of the Parolin community.

Several members of the FC Dallas family are traveling to Brazil this summer to take in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and have agreed to share their experiences with FCDallas.com to give our readers a first-person perspective of the festivities. Today's entry comes from FC Dallas Foundation Director Melissa Reddick, who traveled to Curitiba in conjunction with Lionsraw to do volunteer work in Brazil.

When I was hired four years ago to rebuild the FC Dallas Foundation, I was inundated with calls and emails from international groups wanting to partner in an official capacity. The game of soccer (or football, or futbol) is its own unique international language. It breaks down barriers to facilitate social change. Children will line up for their vaccines when the prospect of playing with an actual ball versus a can or coffee bag appears. So, I knew the Foundation would need to partner with a stable, efficient and effective international organization to make its mark in the world by using sports philanthropy for change.

Through a mutual relationship, I met Jon Burns, founder and visionary of Lionsraw. Based out of the UK, Lionsraw mobilizes soccer enthusiasts to create "Chances for Change" locally and globally in countries that host soccer tournaments such as Poland and South Africa. Their mantra is 'harnessing passion & belief' and they are doing just that on three separate continents right now. When I met Jon and his team three years ago, they were already on the ground in Brazil preparing for the 2014 World Cup, scouting the right legacy project.

Two pieces of Lionsraw that were important for me were first, that they believed in local work as much as global work and second, that they were in a project area building relationships prior to and long after the tournament had ended. This is exactly what makes Lionsraw unique. They are in a country years before their 'legacy tours' begin and stay well after. They build relationships with hosts and organizations on the ground as well as their volunteer base. This year's legacy tour in Brazil brings over 250 volunteers to the Curitiba area.

There are two projects occuring at the same time - the build portion and the football portion. The build project is located in Tangua, north of Curitiba and will provide a community center that will host 500 people a week for education and sports programming. This project began months ago and will be completed in July.

While this is happening, there are three football projects in different favelas around Curitiba. The projects will deliver nine days of community football during June. Each project site has a skilled coach that leads volunteers with a wide range of skills and experiences.

Where does the FC Dallas Foundation come in? Through its Gear Up Project presented by Albertsons, the Foundation donates new and used soccer gear to Lionsraw to be distributed locally as well as globally. The Foundation also partners in local Dallas projects such as a school refurbishment in West Dallas, a number of camps and will be involved in the soccer academies that Lionsraw and another local non-profit, the Fifty-Eight Foundation are establishing to teach leadership through soccer to middle school-aged students.

This year, I joined the volunteer team in Brazil. Arriving in Curitiba last Thursday, I have had the honor of experiencing the other side of the World Cup. It's the side that you don't see while you are watching the chanting crowds and painted faces at the matches all over the country. For the past two days, I served with a team in a small favela north of Curitiba called Almirante Tamandare to lead drills to 30 or so boys from the ages of 5-16. Our community host is the patriarch of the favela, Pastor Rondinely (pronounced Hon-din-eli). Rondinely himself played for a professional club here in Curitiba and has a 16-year-old son in an academy program on the other side of the favela. His English is minimal but we were able to talk about the FCD Academy program and the similarities to his residency.

Not only have my language skills been tested, but my soccer skills as well. I am usually hosting soccer clinics in an administrative capacity and only play the game in the annual staff tournament when some unlucky team of co-workers draws me in the draft.

The boys are so positive, grateful and respectful. They walk in to the pitch shaking every volunteer's hand when they arrive and depart with a handshake, or for me, a kiss on the cheek. There were some incredible skills on the old turf pitch that is completely fenced in with a net roof. It has been 55 degrees out; however, most were in shorts and some played barefoot. The team of volunteers, consisting of Brits and a couple Americans did a wonderful job of engaging the boys.

Most of the volunteers have worked with the kids for a few weeks now, so seeing the relationships between them and the kids that come regularly is touching. Michael, our leader, has a wonderful relationship with the host and speaks incredible Portguese considering he has only been here for two months. I interacted with a number of the kids, but especially a small boy named Andres (right) who played on the side. He was clearly the youngest in age, but not in skill. He would dribble and motion for me to follow. Once after a cartwheel, he looked at me with a challenge in his eyes. Of course, I did it; however, I passed when it came to walking on my hands. Andres was proud of his victory.

Fabian and Rafael (left) are about 9 years old. Clad in matching outfits of green and gold, they played in the morning and the afternoon sessions with bare feet. Their sweet smiles quickly turned serious when they took on me and another volunteer with their long spider-like legs. They dominated.

The first work day was spent coaching the two sessions on the pitch; however, the field was being used on the next work day so we spent the day at the church that Rondinely runs. After a positive message from Rondinely, we played FIFA, table tennis and hosted a round of soccer/bible trivia. I had brought a bunch of FCD gear along with me and the boys were excited to receive jerseys, hats, bags and tees. The kids are just happy to have this group of engaged adults to play with each day.

Today is a day off since Brazil is playing. I'll head to the stadium to see the Spain-Australia match before joining a watch party for the Brazil match. The Ecuador-Honduras game was an amazing experience on Friday. I'm sure today will be no less. I do have a feeling that watching the Brazil game surrounded by Brazilians will over shadow the in-stadium experience. The city is abuzz and feels like a holiday.

Several members of the FC Dallas family are traveling to Brazil this summer to take in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and have agreed to share their experiences with FCDallas.com to give our readers a first-person perspective of the festivities. Erika Cook and Melissa Janetta work in Business Development and Partnership Marketing for FC Dallas. They've traveled to Curitiba along with FC Dallas Foundation Director Melissa Reddick to do volunteer work with Lionsraw (and watch a little soccer). Give them a follow @2SoleSisters on Twitter and Instagram and keep up with them on Tumblr.

After a few hiccups trying to get on wifi, @2solesisters is officially connected! This will be our second night in Curitiba and things are just getting started. Yesterday was mostly a day of travel and as we arrived in Curitiba we had no idea what to expect but the anxiety was shortly laid to rest when we were greeted by the friendliest people. Everyone was in such good spirits and the hospitality from the airport, to the taxi driver, to the hotel staff was awesome. Thank goodness the one word that we learned before we came was obrigada because we’ve used it a lot! As we walked into our rooms we were excited-ish?? to find out that we have bunk beds.. so much room for activities! We finished our first night by meeting up with a few other fellow volunteers from Lionsraw. They were all so nice and we were able to play a couple friendly games of pool. Melissa and I tried not to hustle them too hard. ;)

Game days in Curitiba are off days for Lions Raw so we were able to easily go get our tickets for the match we attended tonight. After shockingly no lines or hassle to get the tickets we ventured out to get our first meal.. only to find that we literally could read nothing off the menu and our communication with the adorable waitress was extremely lost in translation. Somehow we ended up with burgers and fries and we were ok with that.

After lunch we taxied over to the FIFA Fan Fest, which we jokingly said looks a lot like the Byron Nelson. We were able to watch the Italy game on the big screen, but found ourselves in the middle of anxious Ecuadorians everywhere we turned. After Fan Fast we headed to our very first World Cup game at Arena da Baixada. It’s a beautiful stadium for the beautiful game. The energy we were able to experience tonight is something we will never forget, so tonight before we head off to bed to get ready for our busy day of coaching futbol clinics tomorrow we find ourselves chanting “vamos Ecuatorianos que esta noche tenemos que ganar!”

In preparation for their August 9th game against the Colorado Rapids, our FC Dallas Special Olympics Texas team came up to Toyota Stadium for an afternoon of fun and practice on Thursday, May 28.

The day started out with a media day round of pictures and video capture exactly like what our professional players go through before the season starts. Each of the players took headshots and filmed intros that will be used before their game on August 9. After that, each member of the team joined FC Dallas President Dan Hunt to sign official contracts naming them as official FC Dallas players.

The players then headed out to the field to begin their training session led by Oscar Pareja, Stephen Keel, Nick Walker and David Texeira. The training session quickly became a heated game as both sides played to a draw that ended with a penalty kick shootout!

Join us on August 9th as our Special Olympics team plays the Colorado Rapids directly following the match between the FCD and Rapids MLS teams!

We're still a few weeks away from the big tournament in Brazil, but a mini-World Cup comes to Toyota Soccer Center this weekend with the third-annual MoneyGram Nations Cup.

The MoneyGram Nations Cup was organized in 2012 to promote outreach and unity in the local DFW community through the game of soccer and in 2014 we will celebrate the third year of the tournament. 16 teams have been drawn into four groups in a World Cup-style tournament that will determine the 2014 MoneyGram Nations Cup champion.

Admission is free to all games and we encourage all FC Dallas fans to come out early on Saturday afternoon to take in a little bit of the soccer carnival atmosphere! There will be plenty of fun for the kids with face painting, balloon artist and a soccer-shaped bounce house as well as pizza from Cici's sno-cones and other treats!

On Field 10, the Ultimate Soccer Experience will be set up with different interactive stations including soccer bowling, soccer basketball and a 1-on-1 competition while an EA Sports FIFA 14 station offers the chance to win bragging rights over your friends.